Causes of anemia

Anemia Caused by Destruction of RBCs

Hemolytic ("hemo" means blood, "lytic" means destroying) anemia occurs when red blood cells are being destroyed prematurely. (Normally, the lifespan of RBCs is 120 days. In hemolytic anemia, they have a much shorter lifespan.) And the bone marrow (the soft, spongy tissue inside bones that makes new blood cells) simply can't keep up with the body's demand for new cells. This can happen for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, infections or certain medications - such as antibiotics or antiseizure medicines - are to blame.

In a condition known as autoimmune hemolytic anemia, the immune system mistakes RBCs for foreign invaders and begins destroying them. Other children inherit defects in the red blood cells that lead to anemia. Common forms of inherited hemolytic anemia include sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency.

• Sickle cell anemia is a severe form of anemia found most commonly in people of African heritage, although it can affect those of Caucasian, Saudi Arabian, Indian, and Mediterranean descent. In this condition, the hemoglobin forms long rods when it gives up its oxygen, stretching red blood cells into abnormal sickle shapes. This leads to premature destruction of RBCs, chronically low levels of hemoglobin, and recurring episodes of pain, as well as problems that can affect virtually every other organ system in the body. About 1 out of every 625 African-American children is born with this form of anemia.
• Thalassemia, which usually affects people of Mediterranean, African, and Southeast Asian descent, is marked by abnormal and short-lived RBCs. Thalassemia major, also called Cooley's anemia, is a severe form of anemia in which RBCs are rapidly destroyed and iron is deposited in the skin and vital organs. Thalassemia minor involves only mild anemia and minimal red blood cell changes.
• Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency most commonly affects men of African heritage, although it has been found in many other groups of people. With this condition the RBCs either do not make enough of the enzyme G6PD or the enzyme that is produced is abnormal and doesn't work well. When someone born with this deficiency has an infection, takes certain medicines, or is exposed to specific substances, the body's RBCs suffer extra stress. Without adequate G6PD to protect them, many red blood cells are destroyed prematurely.
  

Anemia Caused by Blood Loss

Blood loss can also cause anemia - whether it's because of excessive bleeding due to injury, surgery, or a problem with the blood's clotting ability. Slower, long-term blood loss, such as intestinal bleeding from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), can also cause anemia. Anemia sometimes results from heavy menstrual periods in teen girls and women. Any of these factors will also increase the body's need for iron because iron is needed to make new RBCs.

Anemia Caused by Inadequate Production of RBCs

Aplastic anemia occurs when the bone marrow can't make enough RBCs. This can be due to a viral infection, or exposure to certain toxic chemicals, radiation, or medications (such as antibiotics, antiseizure drugs, or cancer treatments). Some childhood cancers can also cause aplastic anemia, as can certain chronic diseases that affect the ability of the bone marrow to make blood cells.

High levels of hemoglobin and RBCs help fetal blood carry enough oxygen to developing babies in the relatively oxygen-poor environment in utero. Thus, infants are born with some protection from iron deficiency. After the child is born, more oxygen is available and the baby's hemoglobin level normally drops to a low point at about 2 months of age, a condition known as physiologic anemia of infancy. This temporary and expected drop in the blood count is considered normal and no treatment is required because the infant's body soon starts making red blood cells on its own.

Anemia also occurs when the body isn't able to produce enough healthy RBCs because of an iron deficiency. Iron is essential to hemoglobin production. Poor dietary iron intake (or excessive loss of iron from the body) can lead to iron deficiency anemia, the most common cause of anemia in children. Iron deficiency anemia can affect children at any age, but is most commonly seen in those younger than 2 years old.

Girls going through puberty also have a particularly high risk for iron deficiency anemia because of the onset of menstruation; the monthly blood loss increases the amount of iron they need to consume in their diets.

What is Anemia?

Anemia, one of the more common blood disorders, occurs when the level of healthy red blood cells (RBCs) in the body becomes too low. This can lead to health problems because RBCs contain hemoglobin, which carries oxygen to the body's tissues. anemia can cause a variety of complications, including fatigue and stress on bodily organs.

Anemia can be caused by many things, but the three main bodily mechanisms that produce it are:

• excessive destruction of RBCs
• blood loss
• inadequate production of RBCs

Among many other causes, anemia can result from inherited disorders, nutritional problems (such as an iron or vitamin deficiency), infections, some kinds of cancer, or exposure to a drug or toxin.

What is Cancer?

"Cancer" is an abnormal growth of cells anywhere in the body. It occurs when the genes in a cell allow it to split (make new cells) without control.
There are many kinds of cancer, because there are many kinds of cells in the body, and because there are many genes that control cell growth.
Some cancers form solid growths called tumors. Others, like cancers of the blood (leukemias) travel all over the body.
Cancers may harm the body in two ways. They may replace normal cells with cells that don't work properly, and they may kill normal cells.
Sometimes cancers stay put. Sometimes they spread to nearby organs. Sometimes they shed cells into the bloodstream or lymphatic system and travel to distant parts of the body.
The farther a cancer spreads, the harder it is to control. The distant spread of cancer, called "metastasis," is dangerous, because a number of vital organs may be harmed at once.
Many things may cause cancer by affecting the genes that control cell growth. The most common causes of cancer in Rhode Island are tobacco, unbalanced diets (diets with too much fat and red meat, and not enough fruits and vegetables), and too much sunlight. We can control many causes of cancer by making good choices in our everyday lives.
The National Cancer Institute has a book, Cancer Rates and Risks, which describes the major causes of cancer in the United States. The book refers to causes of cancer as "risk factors for cancer," because "risk" reminds us that getting cancer is "ify," not "certain," when we are exposed to things that may cause cancer.


Highlights
Rhode Island’s Cancer Burdenis a comprehensive report that includes cancer rates (incidence and mortality), trends, and disparities.
PDF Help Center

Waht is Aids

A serious (often fatal) disease of the immune system transmitted through blood products especially by sexual contact or contaminated needles.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a lentivirus (a member of the retrovirus family) that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. Previous names for the virus include human T-lymphotropic virus-III (HTLV-III), lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV), and AIDS-associated retrovirus (ARV).[1][2]
Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood, semen, vaginal fluid, pre-ejaculate, or breas milk. Within these bodily fluids, HIV is present as both free virus particles and virus within infected immune cells. The four major routes of transmission are unprotected sexual intercourse, contaminated needles, breast milk, and transmission from an infected mother to her baby at birth (Vertical transmission). Screening of blood products for HIV has largely eliminated transmission through blood transfusions or infected blood products in the developed world.

Artificial Liver Support System

Is the only treatment for end-stage liver disease, but many patients die before receiving a transplant due to the severe shortage of donor organs. Researchers, therefore, have explored various liver assist technologies, or "artificial livers," to keep patients alive while waiting for a transplant.

San Diego, CA -- January 7, 2009 -- Vital Therapies, Inc. (VTI), a development stage company targeting liver disease, today announced patient enrollment has begun for a randomized, controlled, multi-center, Phase 2 clinical trial that will study the Extracorporeal Liver Assist Device (ELAD) as a treatment for patients with Acute Liver Failure (ALF) under three protocols. The study is open for enrollment at seven U.S. sites, which will be expanded to 15 sites in the U.S. and Europe during the first half of 2009. Six patients have already been enrolled in the first protocol and four patients have been treated under the emergency use Expanded Access regulations.

Liver Biopsy

Liver biopsy is the undisputed best way to assess liver fibrosis or cirrhosis; however, it is an invasive procedure that can cause rare, but potentially life-threatening complications. Researchers have been seeking less invasive ways to diagnose liver disease, developing and testing clinical tools, like the Original European Liver Fibrosis Panel and transient elastography.

Liver Transplantation

Many clinicians are reluctant to use interferon-based therapy to treat chronic hepatitis C patients with decompensated cirrhosis (liver failure) due to the risk of severe adverse events. Such patients, however, may be in the most dire need of treatment as they await liver transplantation.
As reported at the Digestive Disease Week 2008 conference last month in San Diego, Alexandra Retana and John Wong performed a systemic review of prior studies looking at the risks and benefits of antiviral therapy for decompensated hepatitis C patients.